KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — The majority of Malaysian civil servants are honest and god-fearing, Usukan assemblyman Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said today as Putrajaya doubles down on corruption.

The Sabah state lawmaker and former federal communications and multimedia minister said he agreed with Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Azam Baki that higher salaries for the public sector alone will not stop corruption as its perpetrators are those who are “greedy, without self values and integrity”.

“But if we do not remove the corrupted ones then it might spread like cancer.

“The serious views and actions of both PMX and Azam Baki in removing the cancer of corruption should be commended by all,” Salleh said in his Facebook page.

He added that corruption, which he described as a “cancer”, needs to be treated like a “disease neglected” to see an improvement to the current condition.

In a talk show hosted by the New Straits Times yesterday, Azam disputed the idea that raising civil servants’ salaries would significantly reduce corruption, dismissing low wages as the main cause.

“If people think that corruption is because of the lower salaries, my recommendation to the government is, be careful on that, don’t keep on increasing the wages for nothing.

“You think that will reduce corruption (but) it is about other things. It is about greed, opportunities, the system and procedures of the governance issues and then people use that opportunity for their benefit,” he said.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/06/18/sabah-lawmaker-backs-anwar-azam-baki-in-malaysias-war-against-cancer-of-corruption/140279